A new mainstream
A new mainstream |
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Page 6 of 23  Swamp Thing Artistically, the comics were more ambitious than ever before, with artists given the freedom to experiment. Fully painted art, collages and multi-media work became common, sometimes published on photographic quality paper to show them at their best. At the same time, the design boom of the 1980s was in full swing, and this had a marked effect on the look of typography, panel compositions and, especially, covers. This split between the sophistication of the product and the essentially childish nature of the content only exacerbated old fan/non-fan tensions (such as they were). For outsiders, the very existence of comics about characters in brightly coloured tights which also featured a label on the cover proclaiming 'For Mature Readers', merely confirmed suspicions that fans were not capable of growing up (those few articles that appeared in the mainstream press about comics in this period are notable for their scornful tone). For the fans themselves, this was the most exciting direction in comics for years - possibly since the advent of the Marvel Age. The title that started the trend in earnest was Daredevil, a failing Marvel superhero series reconceptualized by rising fan favourite Frank Miller in the early 1980s. Originally a run-of-the-mill tale about a blind superhero who fights crime using his supersharp remaining senses, Miller started to add new features. These included breathtaking action sequences influenced by martial arts movies, and a new foe - Elektra, a female ninja assassin - who was to become the most popular female character in mainstream comics. Miller also made the most of cutting techniques pioneered by Jim Steranko, and introduced a new sense of 'edge' into storylines by setting them in a more lifelike, sordid reality. The fans loved it, and Daredevil was soon one of the bestselling Marvel titles behind the X-Men.  The Bark Knight Returns (DC Comics, 1988). Art: Frank Miller. This story when published in book form made the crossover from fan shops to high street bookshops, and was central to establishing graphic novels as a viable form. It starred an older, angrier, chunkier Batman for the 1980s, a much more frightening figure than any of his previous incarnations. |